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Budget system not up to expectations...

Hi.
I've just set up a new system, and I'm trying to troubleshoot it.
Hopefully, someone might have some insight for me.

I had an older Onkyo system (SV414 amp with 6CD) powering some old Infinity Studio Monitor 100s.

I'd been looking around to upgrade my speakers, and decided that B&W CDM1s sounded great for their pricepoint.
I found a used pair, that the seller let me demo, and they sounded great compared to what I'd previously had.
So upon purchase, I decided that it was time to move up from lampcord and buy some quality speaker cable.
I selected a used 10' of Analysis Plus Oval 9, which came with the T1 spades, that of course did not fit in the Onkyo barewire speaker connects.

So I had to upgrade my amp. I decided to go with a Denon AVR-1803 receiver over the Yamaha RX-V800.
Of course when the Denon arrived the speaker posts fit banana & barewire only (I could have sworn I read that it had 5-way!) which when speaking to Analysis Plus about retermination,
they said that AudioQuest makes a Spade to Banana adapter that would be just fine. It didn't make much sense to me that if the construction of a cable is so crucial, how an adapter could be harmless, but I took the manufacturer's word for it.

I noticed that my Apex DVD player had a digital coax out, so I figured, why not see how that fits in with the system, since I already own it, plus the cost of an AQ VSD1 coax.

So finally, this evening, I got a chance to hook it all up after a month of frugal planning.

While it sounds better than my old system, I can't quite tell if I'm being over-expectant, but it doesn't quite sound as good as when I demo'd the speakers on my old Onkyo connected with quickly stripped spare coax I had out in the garage.
The sound seems muffled, and the stereo field sounds completely fake. If I position myself near the sweet-spot, and lean from left to right, it feels like the corresponding speaker is simply louder, and there is no illusion of stereo space.
I auditioned the same CDs on both the Onkyo CD through Analog, and the Apex DVD on both digital and analog. (the Onkyo had much much more bass.)

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

System recap:

Denon AVR-1803
B&W CDM1 on Apollo A3 stands
10' Analysis Plus Oval 9 with T1 Spades & gold banana adapters
(used, so pre-burnt in)
Onkyo 6-Disc changer
Apex AD-660 DVD with Digital out
painter
pe3046
120 posts
 
I had a slightly similiar system with older bw speakers and onkyo sv90 125w receiver (MIT T2 IC's $50 each, Audioquest slate speaker cable $91). The onkyo blew away my denon 2801 that I bought. While looking at your system, your speaker cables sound much more expensive than what I think you need. I would have used the money on a decent 2 channel amp (anything around $200+) and bought a pair of under $80 used speaker cables later. I had audioquest slate which I bought for $90 from audioadvisor (they are much less than the oval 9 but yet are still a huge jump from zip cord). I now use MIT cables, which I think help with this type of equipment. The Denon's (and most surround receivers in general) are fine for watching movies, but as you can see from my previous posts to me there performance for music leaves something to be desired. I probably would have bought a nice integrated or pre-amp combo for the same money I spent on the Denon 2801 if I were to do it again. While having heard a similiar quality apex player via the digital out or analog coax the volume was very muted in comparison to my other DVD player, again I would not spend so much money on a digital cable for this $15-30 at most (canare digiflex, apogee wide eye, radioshack).

Patrick
jameswei
883 posts
 
Did you do the demo where your system is or in the garage? (I'm thinking about a possible bad room interaction.) Try swapping out the Denon and Analysis cables back to the Onkyo with lamp cord. See if it improves back to what you remember from the demo. If it does improve, then I would guess either that there might be a defect in the Denon or the Onkyo was colored in a pleasing way. Good luck.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Painter, are you using your system to watch movies at all or is it dedicated to music? From your post I can tell you're a pretty discerning listener, so I'd say that Pe3046's advice about going straight to a good integrated or pre/amp might be the only way you'll be happy. I think the AP Oval 9s are very good speaker cables and may just be passing an upstream signal you don't like. I went through exactly what you're experiencing, you have the curse my friend.
bluefin
111 posts
 
Oval 9 is very revealing. Probably too much for your source and amplificaiton. Either upgrade your front end or switch to a ~$100 used cable (would recommend a Cu one from Audioquest). This is a typical "mismatch" issue, your cable is more expensive than you CD/amp. Or your room maybe a bad accoustic one, a revealing system may cause edgy sound in a bad room. Try to place speaker in different locations.
bishopwill
369 posts
 
Please don't hear this as insulting but are you sure you have your speakers wired in phase?

will
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